Abstract: A hand truck with a generally upright skeletal frame carried on spaced apart wheels connected with the lower portion of the frame incorporates a noseplate and a pallet-supporting fork structure configured to enter a pallet. The noseplate and fork structure are carried on the frame to be interchangeably movable to and from vertically spaced operative positions projecting forwardly at generally right angles to the lower end of the frame and removed stowed positions generally vertically adjacent the frame.

Abstract: A hand truck with a generally upright skeletal frame carried on spaced apart wheels connected with the lower portion of the frame incorporates a noseplate and a pallet-supporting fork structure configured to enter a pallet. The noseplate and fork structure are carried on the frame to be interchangeably movable to and from vertically spaced operative positions projecting forwardly at generally right angles to the lower end of the frame and removed stowed positions generally vertically adjacent the frame.

Abstract: The invention relates to a system and method for the automated spin-casting production of molded articles. The system includes a casting turntable and a processing turntable which are rotatively mounted, immediately adjacent to one another. The casting turntable has several spin modules mounted thereon for rotatively supporting mold assemblies. Casting preparation and pouring mechanisms are mounted around the periphery of the casting turntable. The turntable indexes the mold assemblies and positions the assemblies for preparation, pouring and solidification of the cast products. The processing turntable receives the mold assemblies and solidified castings from the casting turntable. Multiple processing stations are mounted around the periphery of the processing table for the removal of the castings from the mold assemblies and preparation of the mold assemblies for additional casting operations. The mold assemblies are returned to the casting table from the processing table for additional casting processes.

Abstract: A bottom pour casting apparatus (100) includes a vessel (114) having a bottom nozzle (118). A stopper rod (112) is coupled to a programmable controller (250) by linkage mechanism (250) for controlling the movement of the stopper rod (112) according to a pouring schedule. An LDT position sensor (216) is coupled to the stopper rod (112) by a cable (238) and also electronically to the controller (250) for sensing the actual position of the stopper rod during a pouring cycle and conveying this information directly to the controller (250) thereby bypassing any backlash present in the linkage mechanism (116) to enable precise control of the stopper rod movement. A method includes rezeroing the position sensor (116) at the beginning of each pouring cycle to account for slag build-up on the nozzle (118).

Abstract: A housing contains a plurality of tetrahedron shaped dice. The faces of the dice bear one or more indicia. The housing includes a tumbling compartment in which all of the dice are shaken and a smaller plurality of pyramidal shaped cavities in which certain of the dice are then disposed for viewing. At least a portion of one face of each die is visible through the wall of the housing in one embodiment, while at least a portion of two faces of each die is visible in another embodiment.